December 25, 2008

Yea or Nay

The city delivered my budget book just in time for Christmas. Ho Ho Ho!

The tax increase is currently sitting at 6.5 per cent or an extra $162 for the average home. Staff have a plan to get it down to 2.5 per cent or $66, but that largely depends on the province coming through with a $16.5 million grant or loan. The mayor met with the province last week and told me yesterday that he didn't leave the meeting "with a lot of confidence." That's not good news. If council is forced to find the money elsewhere, it will mean service cuts.

When budget deliberations start in the new year council will have to decide what to do about its' own wish list. Throughout the year council has referred nearly $800,000 in program enhancements to budget deliberations. Now it’s time to yea or nay each item.

What would you decide?

Increase litter pick-up in the downtown - $173,000
Expand the downtown ambassador program - $30,000 Fund additional street tree trimming that was put off last year - $171,000Hire a community relations officer and extra clerk for animal control -$176,000
Extend the season for outdoor pools - $38,000
Maintenance for the new CP Rail Trail - $40,000
Waste collection at major festivals to ensure it’s properly sorted - $40,000

Comments

Better to increase littering by-law enforcement to get the message across than pay to pick-up after thoughtless slobs.

The Ambassador program is silly and useless as the state of downtown is self evident, better to pay for one extra hour per day of foot patrol officers to walk the beat.

As to trimming trees, just had mine done free of charge by Horizon Utilities to ensure they don't interfere with the power wires.

Why else would trees on private property need to be trimmed by unionized municipal staff?

If Animal control needs a community spin doctor and a clerk to shuffle paper deeper problems will need to be addressed sooner rather than later.

There's definitely something rotten in Denmark here.

As to outdoor pools, when was the season shortened and why? This one I could support even though I don't have any children, but used to. This enhancement is a no brainer.

Volunteers from the Red Hill Valley group should get their members to keep this trail spruced up and free of litter, since they lobbyed so hard to get it.

Once again, paying unionized staff to clean up seems hardly a way to get people to toss their trash in the proper receptacle or put it in their pocket till they get home.

As to waste collection at festivals, that responsibility should rest with the organizers and if they fail they could be charged for the clean-up as per the permit they received from city hall to stage the event.

Adding this responsibility to the municipal permit system would be free and easy and part of councils regular duties.

Those budget books tell less than they show, this city needs to dig deep to survive.

It is with mix emotions that I post my comments on the budget issue. It seems that council is not listening and oblivious to some of the reports we heard prior to Christmas. Hamilton ranked a 9 out of 10 ( 10 being the worst) in terms of financial management. It was mentioned that council appears to have no feelings in terms of taxpayers ability to keep paying the taxes that the city is imposing on home and business owners. I am not making this up Bill Kelly on his radio show last week did do a segment on this topic. What I failed to see is any reaction in our local newspapers from discontented residents. I am absolutely convinced that The Spectator is complicit with council in publishing “ fuzzy, warm and positive” news regarding council. Good press only attitude. Not one letter to the editor expressing any contempt for our politicians for once again exercising bad financial management. The list of items on the blog is chicken feed in regards to the overall city budget. Not too long ago there was a debate at council regarding fare increases of 10 cents this was voted down, a 5 cents increase was then proposed and this got voted down. The increase was to offset a $1.3 million dollars deficit at HSR. In response to the failure of approving a fare increase, council moved the $1.3 million to the general levy thus making all taxpayers pay. In terms of demographics of the ridership, I truly believe that the white collar workers and others could afford the extra 20 or 10 cents a day that the increase would have been. Being cognizant of other riders who do not work and money is tight I would have proposed a variable fare for peak and non peak hours, thus giving an option for people to decide at what time of the day to ride the transit system. I do not know what peak hours signify in terms of revenues but a 10 or 20 cents fare increase would have gone a long way in offsetting $1.3 million that was passed on to taxpayers. A variable rate system would have been fairer, currently we are subsidizing a class of riders that could afford to pay more ( city, hospital, university provincial and federal workers and other employed workers) I am totally upset that no thoughts to this was given and council had only one proposal in front of them. Now to present a 6% increase to Hamiltonians is totally unacceptable and also this does represent the whole picture. Keep in my mind that we will also pay more for our water and this increase is not part of this 6%, it is dishonest not to include this increase in the picture. It is also very convenient to blame the province if a $16 million interest free loan does not materialize, keep in mind that these would be loans to the city for at least 2 years until the services are uploaded back to the province which would translate in roughly $40 millions over two years and paid back over how many years? That translates in having the obligations of social services for decades going forward paid out to the province versus individual recipients. I just wish that bureaucrats and politicians treat the budget as they would their own personal money i.e. no extra revenues, cut expenses, our ability to pay more taxes is diminishing since we are also affected by this economic crisis.

As Mark Alan suggests we need to go deeper. Nicole maybe your puppetmasters in the editorial room might let you loose to do a line by line of the Hamilton budget. If some of the stuff you have listed is there, I am certain there would be a lot more nonsense there as well. But they don't like to rile the councillors do they? Or they would have exposed Lister and City Hall for the corruptness of those two projects would they not? What do you say?

Yves: The reality is that for many in this city, the ability to pay property taxes is getting more difficult, as people are experiencing job losses, layoffs and not getting any pay raises in conjunction with the rising costs.

As far as the bus fares goes, this is an interesting debate. It is an oxymoron when we are subsidizing some members of our community that can well afford the fare increase yet others in our community such as those who may find themselves on social services because of illness, job loss, injury, where they cannot work are given no consideration at all.

I mean if one loses their job, exhausts EI benefits and has no option but to go on Ontario Works while looking for employment is given an amount of money that one cannot even live on never mind have the ability to pay for bus fare to travel to a job interview if one happened along.

One also has to look at the system as a whole for those that are experiencing trouble finding work, when the system itself forces people into temp work where no consideration is given in regards to employment standards, specifically on issues such as overtime paid after 44 hours, as some temp companies will tell people it is over 60 hours under Elect to Work, which is false information. They will also tell people that they are not entitled to stat holiday pay citing a probation period, under Elect to Work, which is non existant within the Act itself.

I also find it interesting that many of the temp companies that cite a probation period are members of the Chamber of Commerce. How can the Chamber itself, have its members citing law that is non existant within the Act, since the ruling is around whether a worker is exempt from stat holiday which only affects certain industries and not all workplaces where temp workers are sent.

It does not seem fair that while people are struggling in this economy, that they are denied their rights under statute law. How many workers in our community have been denied stat holiday pay this week? How does the help the community at large when it puts more pressure on other services such as foodbanks when workers are denied their rights?

Where are the voices of our local politicians on thess issues? Are they not suppose to be representing the people?

To add to Yves posting - don't forget the increase in our taxes due to the new MPAC assessments. We are going to be paying taxes on artificially high property values since the value of every house has significantly gone down since the MPAC assessments were distributed.

I continue to believe that a proper zero based budgeting exercise, would be highly appropriate and, done right, effective.

Also, having a good and tangible (rather than a broad motherhood statement) vision for this city, would be crucial in order to help inform which line items are clearly aligned with the future of Hamilton and which are either excessive, misaligned or otherwise unneeded.

We need to get more sophisticated in our approach rather than thinking in terms of "wish lists" and positioning and posturing.

Do people actually think your taxes are going to be cheaper because the province may ante up some money, you can't be serious. The only way thats possible is if the Premier was giving the money out of his pocket, hes not. Last time I looked, we're the ones paying higher provincial taxes when they have to bail out deadbeat cities like Hamilton. Personally I wouldn't give them a nickel, I mean theres no difference, pay Hamilton or Ontario.
I agree totally with Mark-Alans accessment on those items. Only the pools get my nod, all the rest are dead. Maybe someone should have a chat with the CEO of the SPCA, the next time he decides to accept animals from the states a week after he tells us theres a crowded problem here, I think he should be fired.
The city tells me to keep my sidewalk clean and shovelled, did anyone mention that to the businesses downtown?
Theres no hiring of anybody at this time, sorry.
Tree trimming, what a joke, it took 8 months and numerous calls from the crossing-guard to get a 6x8ft pot hole filled right in front of Franklin Rd. school. Lets get our priorities straight, for god sake!!!
And ya, hydro trimmed my tree to.
Now show us the next page and we'll deal with that wishlist here to.
Looking at that list, its just ridiculous. If these are even remotely true about our budget problems, this blog would have the thing balanced in an afternoon.

Greetings y'all and happy holidays. Nichole, thanks for sharing your kitty pic. I love cats, especially when they purr with their clauses extended.

I cannot comment on the seven items which supposedly total nearly $800k because the total is just a tad more than $650k. It does not compute. Besides, Mark-Alan Whittle already pointed out the obvious. Yves Dubeau also brought up HSR fares at $1.3m in the red, but failed to mention that $1.7m of coin went missing this year. Michelle Hruschka relishes being the grassroots are the way forward for distressed labourers and does a fine job opining those concerns. Maureen, you're a sweetheart. We all know we're being borked in the ying-yang by a crown corporation that is anything butt municipal. And then there's jonny velvet...

JV; Yves said, "The list of items on the blog is chicken feed in regards to the overall city budget," and you said, "Nicole maybe your puppetmasters in the editorial room might let you loose to do a line by line of the Hamilton budget."

I don't think its fair to expose Nichole's strings. I don't believe she'll ever be as loose as that cannon you suggest. Her blog is so cute with reigned-in, dear cat jpeg's and stories of council chamber mice and men or riding your bike on, in warm York. The blog is not so much about how we're supposed to be, figuring out how to be, or fixing anything that's broken. It is for you and me and we, to get together and baked cookies, share some java, script words and be spoken.

If you have a tree, trim it yourself. If it's a city owned tree see the above fix on litter pickup!

Animal control = reduction in numbers, creulty be damned some have to be put down.

Public relations officer...for whom and what agency ? police already have public relations officers...they hand out warrants parking tickets and generally hate anyone not in a similar uniform...No funding here!

Maintainence to rail trail....It's worth the money to provide a trail...just let the bikes enjoy it too.(shame on you RBG)

And finally waste collection at festivals, NO. A festival should budget that into thier own costs and not try to unload this crap on the city. Bad budgetting should not be handed off or downloaded period(hint hint city hall)

The taxpayers of Hamilton need to know that the main budget cuts should address the huge amount of managers that are employed by City Hall. They have Managers for Managers, believe me, I have worked for the city.
We were often told "there is no money to hire more front line workers"
The next week guess what we had yet another manager.At one point there was a boss for every 3 workers. Can you imagine what all that costs?

No one listens. Millions spent on the airport and more proposed, while it's collapsing as I write. A Peak Oil study was initiated but no one took head, but rather shoved in under the carpet. Millions of tax payers dollars spent on the Lister block but little focus has been directed to the promotion of real sustainable jobs. Though much time was devoted to getting rid of drive troughs. I could go on and on....the only creative solution is more and more taxes, while jobs are dropping off the shelves and mother Hobard's cupboards are empty... taxes escalate demonstrating that this City has is so far out of touch with the real world...Moreover when you consider all it's natural resources such mismanagement is only magnified. Taxes...taxes....dull and uncreative but that's Hamilton City Hall for you....Who listens?

This is an open letter to those considered leaders of the community of Hamilton.

With the infrastructure of the city in general crumbling faster than we can repair it, spending money on yet another study, or heaven forbid the actual twenty million dollars for the velodrome itself, is pure lunacy!
If by some ill stroke of luck this white elephant gets built, we all know the final bill will far exceed the original cost estimate. We've learned this from the renovation of City Hall as well as countless other bloated special interest and municipal projects.

Hamilton has a habit of putting the cart before the horse:

Particularly relevant is the mismanagement and financial loss incurred due to the world cycling championship.
Building an NHL spec arena without the prospect of a team. The city can barely support the Bulldogs.
The ongoing refurbishment of City Hall. Costs grew and the city ended up cutting corners on the final design. Is it even done yet?
The Hamilton Eaton Centre. Enough said.
Restoring the TH&B station for use as a Go station....with no free parking?!
The Lincoln Alexander Parkway and Red Hill Expressway....How over budget were those on again off again projects?
Who thought that the Ferguson street station and paving Ferguson Ave. N with cobblestones, primarily an industrial area with many auto body shops as residents, was a good use of tax payer money?
How much did city hall say it cost to turn all of the ultra efficient one way streets in the downtown core into a traffic snarling nightmare? Why did they do it?
Some politicians, as well as Andrew Iler, president of the cycling centre at Mac, and Tourism Hamilton's David Adames,believe we need this velodrome and other facilities to help save the city.

I believe WE need to fix the city first, and stop spending money we don't have on pipe dreams that we can't afford.

Hamilton is a proud community, but it is a very bleak place in many areas. We have some of the worst streets in the country. Most of the city North of Main st east is a blueprint for urban blight, and rather than address these issues, our politicians plant flowers and order expensive studies to see if we should spend even more tax dollars they don't have, while raising our taxes every year!

Why spend thousands of tax dollars on City beautification projects, like intersection median flowerbeds, to hide what is wrong , when instead we can fix what is wrong. Why do we assume anyone will want to come to the wreck that has become Hamilton just because we have a velodrome?!

A velodrome will be just another of these fiascoes. Never mind the the initial building costs, whatever they may be, there will be extensive maintenance. Remember that track has to be smooooth! This in a city that can't even afford to properly maintain, or refurbish the swimming pool at the Westmount Rec. Centre.

If someone from the private sector wants pony up the money to build and maintain the Velodrome, more power to them. They will likely run it as a profitable business (has HECFI posted a regular profit lately?).

Perhaps Andrew Iler, David Adames and other interested parties had best put together proposals and gather sponsors from the private sector. Let them get to it, because Hamilton is broken, and broke, and until the infrastructure is fixed, and it is a city people will actually WANT to visit, and all residents can have pride in, there should be a freeze on ALL special interest spending. Any other action is irresponsible.

Downtown needs every break it can get, litter pickup stays. Also, perhaps adding some large pots filled with sand for all the cigarette butts in gore park would be a good idea. Yay

Ambassador program? This is a joke right? Ice Cream and wandering people in blue shirts do not a good city make. Nay

Street trimming..well if it was put off then it should get done, but I don't really see a problem with rampant vegetation in the city. Nay

Animal Control? I can see possibly in Flambrough/Ancaster/Dundas this being needed, but I just don't see it needed for most of the city. Nay

Extend the season for outdoor pools? If we can ever clean up the bayfront/the beach rd area, we wouldn't need outdoor pools. Rec center pools & privately owned pools are sufficient, or if you want to take your kids swimming, go on vacation. Nay

Maintenance for new CP Rail Trail? Well, while I am a big fan of the bay front trails and the Chedoke/Bruce trail but $40,000 for trail maintenance is a bit steep. At this price nay, if you cut it in half, Yay.

Litter sorting. If we are talking cleaning up for major events, that should be up to the organizer. Nay. If we are talking sorting the trash and directing as much as we can from landfills from these event, a painful Yay.

Nicole Macintyre

Nicole MacIntyre is the queen of kings. A married mother of two boys, including the world's former worst sleeper, she's also a reporter and parenting columnist at the Hamilton Spectator. A devotee of the 'whatever works' approach to child-rearing, Nicole has learned to never say "I'll never" when it comes to parenting.